Operation Raahat: Pilots dealt with dust storm, damaged machines

Blinding dust storms, damaged navigational aids and confusing instructions from the ATC were some of the challenges braved by Air India crew who took part in the recent mission to airlift thousands of people, including foreign nationals, out of strife-hit Yemen.

Recounting the edgy operation, an Air India pilot who was part of the efforts said that they managed to evacuate nearly 2,900 people with the help of three aircraft and eight pilots. 'Operation Raahat', as the mission to airlift civilians was called, had featured a 55-member AI team, he said.

Dust storms were a major threat during the mission as they reduced visibility to as low as 100-ft, said the pilot who was speaking on condition of anonymity as he was not authorised to talk to the media about the operation. The situation was further aggravated by the malfunctioning landing systems at Sana'a airport, leaving the pilots virtually blind and dependent only on the GPS for landing.

"The major challenge was visibility. Around the time we reached there for the rescue operations, the region experienced severe dust storms and it was not until we descended to a height of 100-ft that the runway was visible," he told PTI. 

On a good weather day the runway can be seen from a distance of 10-km, the pilot said, noting that, under the dust storm however, they "were flying almost blind-folded". "Moreover, severe bombing had damaged the Instrument Landing System, the Distance Measuring Equipment and other navigational equipment at the airport. Thus, there was no help while landing," he said.

If poor visibility was not enough, the ATC in Sana'a added to the confusion and, in one such instance, it suddenly rejected permission to land on April 5 as the aircraft hovered over it to evacuate a bunch of Indians. 

The AI team had reached Djibouti on March 30 and got permission to start operations on April 3. After the green light was shown, the staff swung into action and started evacuating people using a four-hour window in the Saudi Arabia -controlled airspace over Yemen.